Anticipating the impact: US health care reform

Sometimes lost in the furor surrounding health reform in the US is the fact that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) will affect some employers far more than others. Following the recent US Supreme Court decision that confirmed the constitutionality of the act, Mercer surveyed more than 1,200 US employers regarding the impact of key reform provisions that go into effect in 2014 and what actions they have taken to date or plan to take to comply with the PPACA.

Organizations with large part-time and lower-paid workforces – such as retail and hospitality – are expecting the biggest cost impact, Mercer found. “With health benefit cost already rising at twice the rate of general inflation, an additional increase of 3% or more – which is what many of these employers expect – will be tough to absorb,” says Tracy Watts, US health care reform leader at Mercer. Much of the increase will stem from the requirement to extend coverage to all employees working 30 or more hours in a week.